


Tales of a MMO Junkie

by Gorecupcakes



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bad Flirting, Chubby Prompto Argentum, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Kinda, LGBTQ Character, M/M, MMORPGs, My First AO3 Post, Oblivious Prompto Argentum, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Slow Burn, Trans Male Character, Trans Noctis Lucis Caelum, implied eating disorder
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:33:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23943139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gorecupcakes/pseuds/Gorecupcakes
Summary: Prompto spends his hours on end playing online in his favorite MMORPG, EOS. But to get the best gear he needs to form a party with three other players. Testing his luck on the message board, lone gamer Prompto joins a party and makes some friends along the way.  Is it just his imagination or is his new friend, Noctis, flirting with him?
Relationships: Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Comments: 7
Kudos: 51





	1. Hunters needed!

**Author's Note:**

> I finished chapter 1 in 2017 and couldn't sleep... SO I found it again... And opened a big can of worms. Dust it off edit chpt 1 and finished chpt 2 and spent over 24 hours writing more chapters and drabbles to make into a chapter later on. I haven't shared any work piece since 2016 but it's a pandemic so why not break out of my shell once again? 
> 
> The MMORPG style the game is based off of is a mix of .Hack, ESO, FFXIV, and FFXV game mechanics aren't a heavy focus. It's just the media how they interact most of the time.
> 
> This might be very triggering for some people. Prompto has a lot of issues he needs to work out (as do I lol) but his lack of self confidence, body image, and self hate is pretty up there and scattered about that it's a warning for every chapter.

Prompto sighed after chewing on his bottom lip, eyes cast down from the poster on the help board. He wasn’t sure if he should even try to help, most of the time he ends up in random parties with a group that would ignore him or boss him around. And even though the blond wanted to get this hunt done with before time was up, just to feel like he accomplished something, Prompto didn’t want that aftermath feeling of being used. Rubbing his face in frustration, he started to move away from the board before he froze. Chewing on his bottom lip, he caved in and opened his user interface screen, a yellow colour that was close to a chocobo chick, to leave a note on the messageboard.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Hunters wanted!!!!

Looking for friendly group to help me!!!

Rank 9 ilvl285 Gunner with BIS gear other than high hunt and raid gear o(╥﹏╥)o

Pls help me kill Daemonwall (◡ω◡✿)

If Im not online, pls leave me mog mail if interested!!!!!!!

Reading over it again while deleting and adding the emojis a few times, Prompto sent it with his eyes shut tight while holding his breath. After a few seconds of no one sending a message, he opened his eyes with a groan. He knew not to expect anything so fast but the waiting would probably kill him. He had only asked for help one other time, when he started playing the game, and no one had answered him. 

A buzz from his cell jerked him from the game, telling the teen that he wasted his break on doing nothing but shopping and trying to gain the courage to make a party with random people, but his lunch time break was over and it was time to go to his class. Waiting a few moments, he waited to see if anyone would message him but nothing. 

Of course people are busy, they have the right to be and play with whoever they want. If they didn't want to help him out, then he'll have to deal with that. _Though, it would be nice to be noticed once in awhile…_ Prompto thought bitterly, but frowned at his negative train of thought.

With a sigh of defeat, he logged out quickly from the MMO called Eos that he has been addicted to for the last four years and smiled at the chibi chocobo that wished him good luck in the real world. Prompto pulled the earbuds and glasses off and stuffed them away in his bag with the controller. Grunting, he stands from his spot on the rooftop floor to stretch a bit from sitting in the same spot for almost an hour and makes sure he has all his things before rushing down to his class. The chubby blond really wanted to get the hunt done before the end of break but instead he spent his time too shy to join any of the groups that were looking for someone while eating his lunch. He cursed himself for not trying harder but every single time he went to respond to a post, he froze. Only a few times the groups he had joined had been rude to him, but that kind of behaviour with the way some of his classmates treated him.

He started playing this game cause he wanted to be different from his offline self, to feel free and just not care what people think of him and to make friends. but it didn’t work out for him. Prompto just _wanted_ to be carefree and not have people judge him because of his looks or ignore him as if he was a ghost. But, even on the online world, the blond still hasn’t gotten over his fear of talking to people. Trying to better himself was proving harder than he thought it. He was slowly changing but not enough to be brave and make huge steps. To him, it was a failure to break from his old habits but the MMO was fun so he kept on playing.

Class was uneventful as always, with classmates whispering among themselves about hanging out or asking help from one another with the teacher, talking over them and taught them math. Prompto took mental notes on how he can get to rank 10 on his own if no one answered him, which would be the case. Maybe if he was able to get to item level 300 with a ton of hi-potions and hi-elixir, then he can do it on his own, but then the blond knew he would have to join a raid group to get there and get the best in slot gear. Hopelessness took over the blond as he tried to think of ways around to get to his goal. Thus the feeling of emptiness took over his body, as he slumped in his chair and tried to pay attention to his teacher then let his emotions take over him. 

After class Prompto would walk back home, making sure to take the long way to avoid everyone but also to get some more exercise in the day. Which he knew he should try harder but the lack of motivation pushed the idea on the back burner every single day. He was nobody and if he tried, he knew he would just be taunted for trying to fit in.

“I’m home!” The blond called out, holding his breath for his parents to answer but got none. Frowning, he walked through the empty house to his bedroom and plopped down onto his bed with a groan. “Guess I’ll just log in…” He muttered to himself, already dreading what may happen of no one answering him.

_Which is fine. I'm not entitled to have people help me._ Prompto frowned at the bitter statement, trying to push those thoughts aside but it left a heavy pit in his gut with a shake of his head.

Grabbing his bag from the ground, he pulls out the pieces needed to log in and plugs in the controller and headpiece to charge while playing games. Laying properly on his bed to be comfortable, he logged in.

〜(￣▽￣〜)(〜￣▽￣)〜

“Kupo! You got mog mail, kupo!” A cute voice alerted him as a mail Moogle flew over with it’s red bag as Prompto approached the creature with a grin at it’s cuteness.

“Thanks!” He chuckled at the NPC, taking the letter and pressing the stamp to open it. Blue eyes widen and blink a few times, seeing something he did not expect. Someone actually answered him while he was away! Someone actually wants to party with him with two others, people actually noticed him and want to help him! “ _Oh em gee_ , this is totally happening!” Prompto looked at the Moogle that was making cute sound effects, the creature spinned around in it’s place giving the illusion that it was happy for the blond even though it would be doing the same animation in a few minutes.

I saw your message on the hunter board and two others with myself would love to gain your assistant.

If you would like to meet today, we are in Altissia.

~Ignis Scientia

Sending a quick message to the other player, hoping he wasn’t too late to get a response, the moogle once again cooed out that he got mail and read that the others were online at the city and were at the cafe playing games as of right now. His body being filled with pure excitement and anxiety, Prompto rushed to the camper to pay the fee to Altissia. 

Exiting out of the hotel, he felt out of place when he saw all the well dressed players and NPCs. Prompto had the look of most of the hunters back at the Headquarters, his punk outfit stands out among all the crafters, which made him wonder why a group of hunters would be hanging in this city. 

Remembering where the games were, Prompto took the boat to the location and tried to prep himself to not mess up the meeting. First impressions are important and the last time he played with a group of people, they rarely spoke to him thus causing Prompto to leave the group after the first raid run. It was one of the few reasons, at least, but still one that stung the most. Seeing the building come up, the blond teen took a deep breath and psych himself up with his fist clenched and a giant smile on his face. 

Announcing their arrival, the boat stopped and the gunner hopped off to see three men in black gathered around the Justice Monsters Five game. Wanting to go up and just say hi, Prompto just stared at the guys while the soft chatter of the cafe participants chatted and the music of the arcade game chimed. He moved closer, hoping they would feel his presence and turn to acknowledge him but that was wishful thinking of his part. 

“Um, hello…?” His voice was barely audible to himself while his heart beating so fast and so loud that the blond hoped it would not be picked up from his mic for others to hear. 

The tallest man of the group turned to look at him with a confused look with narrow dark eyes. “Who the hell are you?” He asked, turning to cross his arms over his chest with a glare making Prompto feel intimidated. Extremely intimidated. If this was the group's way to see if Prompto can actually not a wimp, then the blond would have lost.

A second member of the small group turned to see what was happening. “Ah, you must be the hunter. Gladio, stop scaring him.” The dirty blond man smiled, pushing his glasses to fix them. “I was the one that sent you the message, but Noctis here was the one that wanted to party up.” He pointed at the final one of their small group, the teen was in the minigame and cursing under his breath. “Sorry, he saw on the forum a few players were able to get a good amount of gil and is now fixated on it.”

“Gods know why, he’s loaded.” The Gladio character groaned, leaning on an unused machine while looking Prompto up and down which almost made the blond squirm a bit under pressure.

“Oh yeah, I won 500k.” Prompto said, giving a soft smile at Ignis. He has been saving his money, hunting on his own made it more expensive and he was grateful for the extra gil for better quality food and potions. “It's more on the luck side, took me an hour to get it but I guess my RNG isn't _that_ bad.”

The black haired boy stopped his game, grabbing the item he won and putting it away. “You won?” He looked the other up and down, a slight frown on his face made Prompto want to rush away and go back to being a solo player but he swallowed his anxiety and shrugged again. 

“RNG God was kind to me that day.” The blond chuckled, bringing his hands behind his back to fiddle with his bracelet with a slight bow forward. “I'm Prompto, by the way! Well, uh, I guess you guys know that already?” He added, quickly, flushing slightly with another nervous chuckle. “But, yeah! Hi!”

The others introduced themselves. Ignis was an item level 265 rogue with Culinarian that already knew the new level 5 star recipes, already someone Prompto would want on his team just for the free or cheap food that was the best quality. Though the man’s item level needed some work for battles but that was an easy fix. Gladiolus was an item level 270 knight with no desire to craft at all, which was something Prompto could relate to. As much as the gunner was pleased to have a Culinarian in the group, he couldn't put in the grind into crafting as it would become boring after awhile to him. Gladiolus seemed to have the same mindset. Lastly was Noctis an item level 270 fighter and a Fisher. That struck Prompto confused. Fishing in most games just happened to be pure RNG and while the Justice Monsters Five had a bit of that for the grand prize, it was more skill than anything. But the blond didn't try fishing out in this game since hunting and dungeon crawling was more his speed. But if Noctis was a good Fisher and Ignis being a Five star cook, the group must have a nice flow of gil coming in which made Prompto slightly jealous that he didn't put in the grind for those kinds of jobs. He has a good amount of gil but he was definitely on the poor side and hoarded his gil to save up for items that usually hit the market board come patch day. And while his gear was better than most of the player base who doesn’t raid, the gunner still felt like he wasn’t good enough. These guys could use the boost though.

“So, have you guys done anything like this before?” Prompto leaned forward on the table that the group decided to take over near the game. 

“Party up or big hunts?” Noctis smirked and took a sip of the colorful drink he had bought. While the cafe worked as a fully functional one for players to roleplay eating and drinking, it did cost money. Not a lot of gil, but still money that Prompto didn’t want to spend on aesthetics. 

“Well…” The blond frowned, his hands under the table as he pulled at his bracelets. “No offense, but I’m the better geared one. I’m not sure what kind of builds you guys are going for but these big hunts are pretty hard for even a group at my skill.” The two older men gave him a pointed look as if slightly insulted causing Prompto to flush. “I mean, I’ll help you guys out but I don’t have much time right now to put in a lot of work.”

“You’re online right now.” Gladio pointed out, a small smirk on his face.

“I--- Well….” Prompto frowned and removed his headset but kept his earbuds in to hear everything. Blinking a few times, he rubbed his eyes and sighed. Better to be with a group at a lower level than none at all. Fixing himself, he looks at the others. “I guess we can try a lower hunt so I can see your skill and how we work together... And, if it’s not much, to see your gear…?” He chewed on his lip, “If that’s okay. If I’m being annoying, just tell me though!”

“You’re being annoying.” Gladio teased with a chuckle, nudging the blond. 

Unfortunately, he didn’t take the teasing like that. “Ah, sorry! I guess…. I do a lot of hunting and dungeon runs, I don’t want to sound like an elitist douche.” He tried to hurry and fix his image of himself to the guys, flushing in real life and in game with pure embarrassment and feeling like kicking himself off the planet for good measure. 

“He was joking, Prompto.” Ignis cut in, giving the buff man a stern look and then turning his gaze to the teen with a soft smile. “We’re not hardcore hunters but it looks fun to take down a daemonwall that was a higher level just to say we did it. Plus this thing is going to go away after the end of the month, correct?”

Prompto perked up just slightly at Ignis, not enough to stop himself from feeling ashamed of himself but enough to pretend he was okay. “Yeah, I haven’t killed this one and since it won’t be around for a few more months afterwards, I just want to get the achievement for having it done when it first showed up. Plus Wall Basher is a funny title to have.” He chuckled, opening his UI and pulling up his titles that he never uses but likes to collect them but his eye caught the time. “Shit, I gotta go for a bit.”

The blond wasn’t sure if his parents would be home soon but there were a few things he had to do before bed. And as much as he would love to stay up all night and play, he did have school in the morning. Sighing, he looked up at the other guys.

“It is getting close to dinner time, I need to make something.” Ignis added, which made the blond realise that they were at least in the same time zone, standing from his spot at the table but bringing his UI up to press some buttons which beeped at Prompto that he got a friend request. The blond grinned and accepted the request and jumped at the other two request that came in from the other men. “I'll do some research on the gear I would use while away.” He glanced over at Noctis, who was still nursing his drink. “Don't stay up too late, Noct. I'll be over to pick you up early.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” The dark haired teen brushed him off with a roll of his eyes. 

And with that Ignis logged off.

“I should get going, too. Iris needed help with homework and I need to get to work.” Gladio groaned, giving the boys a two finger salute and a wink at Prompto before disappearing.

Noctis looked over at the blond, who hadn't tried to log off yet and just fidgeting in his seat with a slight blush. “Weren't you gonna go?” 

“I, uh…” He frowned, “Just want to say sorry if I came off as rude.” His shoulder sagged, thinking of the worse that the guys wouldn't want to party with him and adding him as a friend was a way to cushion the blow. There had been plenty of times Prompto would talk to people and they would add him as a friend but never actually talk to him afterwards. It always saddened him to look at his friend list of people that have forgotten about him, but the gunner couldn't bring himself to delete the people from his list as if to say everyone there doesn't remember him. “I'm not really good at this.”

The other shrugged, finishing his drink. “Dude, it's just a game. I wouldn't sweat it.” He smiled, standing up which made Prompto follow suit. “You're not part of a guild? Wanna join ours?”

_Oh. Oh no._

“Um…” Prompto always avoided those. Talking to people was hard enough but being in a guild to see people everyday and ignore him was too much to handle. He had been part of them, group members adding him to just get more members instead of getting to know him. And after the three he had joined in the hours put into this game, he decided to never join another guild. “It's not really my thing.” He half lied.

The dark haired one’s brow shot up in question with a pointed look as if to see through the lie. “Not your thing to have cool guild perks? We have a house here and a shit ton of money. If we're gonna help each other, you might as well take advantage.” Noctis brought up his menu and sent an invite without waiting for the blond to answer.

It started to be a little suspicious that Noctis was being so nice to him but Prompto didn't say anything and just tucked that thought away for now. Glancing at Noctis, he pressed the accept.

“Welcome to the Kingsglaive.” Noctis grinned, throwing an arm around Prompto. 


	2. AFK Craft House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mini house tour?

Prompto logged off after that, too flustered to say or do much with Noctis, and went to get dinner together. He settled for a big salad and a tall glass of lemon water with ice. Then he ended up eating the ice after he was done with his food, not totally satisfied since it was just vegetables because he was not interested in cooking any chicken for his meal. Which he regretted once he started to eat but he did pull some out for tomorrow’s dinner, trying to remember to eat a balanced meal instead of his piss poor excuses he has been making recently. Not that it lasted long anyways as he pulls his cell out and records his meal with a sigh as he notices how much he needs to walk or run.

Continuing his chores, he tidied the house a bit while doing laundry. Every so often he would pull up a gear set website as a random thought of his new hunting group mates might need. Luckily for Prompto, he had dabbled a bit in each job as alternative characters so he did have a basic understanding. He settled with gunner for the fast paced and away from the action with most of his builds. Though he would log into his alternative characters every patch to have them at a decent item level but that was all just to kill time and now how to play each job at its basic core.

He wondered briefly if the others talked offline but quickly shook those thoughts aside as Prompto knew he shouldn't become attached just yet. He wasn’t even sure they would work well together or if they would actually like him. 

“Just don't talk to them if they don't talk to you first and stop being a fucking dick.” He scolded himself as he threw his clothing in with a bit of force. He can be nice and funny, everyone liked nice and funny guys, right? Though, Gladio seemed to not like him. “Why didn't i keep my mouth shut?” He groaned, messing up his hair in frustration.

Closing the top for the washer, Prompto got ready for his nightly run to help him stop thinking for a bit of the new issues he caused for himself. Thoughts of disappearing for a bit would work, then Noctis would kick him from the guild and he can go back to being alone and not have people hate him. As he thought of not playing the game, the blond felt a twinge of despair hit him as he was doing rather well for a solo player and it was fun to spend hours killing things. It was a bit extreme but the blond didn't care and just wanted a way to fix this mess. Best thing to do was get this done and just leave the others. It's not like they would run into each other if they hung around the crafting area. Prompto was a big fan of the Chocobo Keep and tended to spend most of his days there taking screenshots to fill his phone with the big birds or hang around the Meldacio Hunter HQ area for special event hunts that would occur randomly in the day. And if worse comes to worse, he can just use real money to transfer servers, he thought, _better start saving now._

If it came down to it, Prompto could avoid the others easily.

Going out for a run before the sun goes down, Prompto tried to clear his head. It worked for a bit as he made his way down the streets listening to music to keep him occupied. But when the sun started to set, the thought about going back to his empty home was not appealing in the slightest. 

〜(￣▽￣〜)(〜￣▽￣)〜

The moment Prompto logged on the next day after his classes, he got a private message from Noctis where the house was and to come over. **_Right away._ ** Which kind of shocked the blond until he remembered that he was part of the group’s guild and that it was probably a feature to see who is logged in and whatnot that he had forgotten about. Stealing himself with a deep breath, Prompto moved through the city of Altissia to the housing district and then to the modest medium sized home that was conveniently near a market board and the docks for fishing. There weren't many people outside, so spotting Noctis was steadfast as the dark haired character moved over to him and sent him a party invite with a grin. The blond accepted the invite, seeing Noctis was currently in his fisher class even though the glamour set that covered the fishing gear was the same as the night before as his fighter class. He peaked at the gear, pretty impressive that the gear was maxed and melded with materia. Prompto was going to say something but decided against it to not seem like he was creeping and judging the other.

“Come check out the house, you can even get your own room if you want. We have extra gil and furniture if you don’t have any stuff. Or we can have one of the guys make you some stuff.” Noctis said, moving into the house while the gunner right behind him. 

There was a blonde woman and a dark haired man by a fireplace off to the right. The woman was crafting some potions while the man was chatting with her and watching. They both looked over to the new member of the guild and the women put her crafting things away to move over to the other boys. 

“Is this the new guy?” She smiled, waving at him. Noctis confirmed it with a nod. “I’m Lunafreya but Luna is fine. If you need any potions, just come to me or if we have any in the chest, be free to grab anything you need. I’m always online making them to sell or to fill our stock.” She gave a bow, still a friendly and bright smile on her face that Prompto couldn’t help but return with a slight blush. “That guy over there is Nyx.” She pointed to the other who didn’t move from his spot on the couch but he waved at them.

“You need some muscle, I’m your guy if I’m not raiding.” 

“You raid?” Prompto perked up at that, moving over to the other.

“Yeah and hunt.”

“Yeah but Nyx never helps us out.” Noctis frowned but the teasing tone was light. “He just runs us through content one by one once they’re done getting all the stuff they need.”

“It’s hard to carry three noobs at once with the loot being locked after you get your piece, I have real life shit to do on top of this. Sorry I don’t work from home like some people, your highness.” 

“Yeah yeah.” The younger one waved him off and wrapped his arm around Prompto. “We got this guy to do high level hunts, so watch out.”

“What’s your item level?” Nyx moved closer to them, checking the blond out that caused him to blush under his gaze. 

“Um, 285. I’m hoping to get to 290 but to get my best weapon I have to do this dungeon and it’s not solo-able.” 

“Oh, nice. I would offer to help but I’m on a tight schedule most of the time to do dungeons that take a while.” He gave the other a sorry look but then glanced at Noctis. “But I’m sure prince charming over here can help you out.” Noctis let his eyes roll, giving the other the finger.

“If he can stay awake long enough.” Luna teased as he let out a weak ‘ _hey’_ that made the blonde giggle. “Oh, I’m late!” She looked at Prom and the prompt for a trade popped up that included 50 high quality mega-potions and mega-elixirs. “For you, I have so much more I’m selling, so take them!” 

Not feeling like getting on the woman’s bad side, he accepted with a grin and a fluttering heart. “Thanks.”

“You're welcome, I rarely do anything else but craft so it's my pleasure to make it.” And with a bow, she logged out in a blink.

“And I should go meet up for raid but, ugh, I'm tired.” Nyx sighed, “Noct, go raid in my place.” 

“Hell no, Crowe is scary and I wanna chill with Prom while I do my work.” Noctis rolled his eyes and moved closer to the blond.

"Lame." Nyx sighed but a grin was on his face. "Wish me luck, your highness." 

Noctis shouted but the man teleported away before he could get another word in that wasn't a curse. Prompto stood there awkwardly, staring at the space Nyx was at. And wishing someone else came over so he wasn't alone with the dark haired guy. 

"So, this is the living room, Luna mostly crafts here and I sometimes AFK on the couch watching her if I'm going to be away for a while. I usually forget to put it on so if you see me just sitting there, I'm not ignoring you."

"Why don't you change the timer?" Prompto asked looking over to the other and seeing a sheepish smile on his face, then mentally cursing himself out for the rude question. Of course Noctis knew this, everyone knew this, the guy must have been playing for a while to understand how AFK works in this game. _Already messing up, good job._

But Noctis chuckled, "Cause it pisses everyone off." He answered, smiling at him. "I actually made the timer the highest it can be just cause I can. Makes Gladio so mad, especially since I stay logged in all day." If that was to reassure the blond, it didn't work and just make himself feel worse but, luckily, he didn't react in a negative way but smiled and nodded. "Luna made all the furniture, I think she's an omni-crafter and she even does gathering. She can make basically anything you want and gather the mats for you, all you gotta do is ask." Prompto made a mental list of that but he knew he wouldn't dare to bother her. That is so much work for one person.

"That's some dedication." Prom said, clearly impressed by the amount of work she does just for aesthetics reasons. 

"Yeah, she leveled up mage for a bit but wasn't really her thing, which sucks cause she's pretty good, but we got you now." He smiled at him.

But _ouch_ that stinged a bit. But of course Prom knew he wasn't the group's first choice, it was dumb to think that and take it personally. Lunafreya was their friend way before Prompto could even gather the courage to post his request online

"Come follow me up stairs." Noctis grabbed his hand, pulling him up the stairs to see a study. "We got a bunch of lore books, Nyx mostly contributed them from raids and hunts, they're pretty handy if you forgot what monster is weak and strong against. And he has done a lot of the higher tier raids so when we're ready for those we can study them. They're working on the last fight for this patch so probably in a few weeks it'll be added to the collection." 

Damn, that _was_ impressive. Prompto didn't have a house and the camping feature in this game didn't allow any data gathering, it was mostly for quick needed cooking and resting while in the wild area. Which the blond barely used unless his hunger meter was too low, if he needed to rest or AFK for a bit, he just went to the Chocobo stable. 

"We also have an aesthetician bell by the desk, if you wanna change up your look. I usually AFK at the desk here if no one is around the house. Oh! And now for the best part of the house." 

Noctis pulled his downstairs, Prompto just realized that the other hadn't let go of his hand and started to blush a little. No one has ever touched him for so long in real life or in game, once down stairs he pulled his hand away with embarrassment and walked around the impressive looking bar to mask his true feelings. "Wow! This is awesome!" There were paintings on the wall of daemons that most likely Nyx had fought and there were even some statues too. Prom was a bit jealous of how well put together the house was and felt like he should invest his gil in a home but even the smallest house could end up over five million gil.

"Thanks, the mender and materia melder are behind the bar, but if Luna is online ask her to meld to avoid the fees from the NPC. And both her and Ignis keep different raid food on the tables so please use them. I'll make sure they start making food based off your job."

"Oh, that's okay." He added, turning to the other. "I don't want to imp-"

"You're part of the guild, don't worry about it." Noctis interrupted with a shrug and waved him off, "Luna would love to do it, plus she makes food for raids all the time for money. It's not a problem."

And Prompto really wanted to believe it but couldn't. But he nodded, making sure to smile and seem believable to not have the issue pressed any further.

"And that's it. I would show you my room but I'm changing it up, so maybe later when I'm done, I can show you. But first I gotta finish some work." 

"Oh, right. Should I leave? I don't wanna distract you…" 

"Nah, I'm almost done and the others should be logging on soon. Plus, it's boring paperwork and I rather have someone to talk to."

"Oh, what kind of paperwork?" Prom wasn't much of a small talker and if anything he rather just go do things than just stand there and talk. Noctis moved to one of the tables and sat down, and some papers showed up on the table as his character began to read and write. Prompto followed suit to sit across from him, relaxly leaning on the table with his head in his right hand.

"Just boring stuff, mostly medical paperwork since I had some doctor visits recently but my dad tells me to look over it and file them, though I have no idea what I am reading. I see numbers and it just seems like bills to me, so, meh.” Noctis chuckled, the sounds of paper flipping in game and real life were slightly off putting. “Then gotta just make sure my homework is uploaded." Noctis voice sounded like he was walking around in his real life room now and a crunch of chips filled his ears. "Sorry, I didn't eat dinner." 

"That's okay." Prompto also didn't eat dinner but mostly because he ate too much during lunch out of stress for this kind of interaction, salad was on the menu after his night run. "You're in college?" 

"Yeah, studying business, almost done with it. You?"

"Studying computers, not almost done, but I was a photography major before."

"Huh, why the change?" Another loud crunch of chips filled his ears and Noctis munched.

"Wasn't really good at it plus no money in it unless you're super talented."

"Hm, I bet you're pretty good. Most artists say they're bad and end up amazing." 

Prompto felt his cheeks burn, mostly from embarrassment at being stereotyped easily. But the truth was he knew he wasn't great. Decent, yeah, could make a few bucks off online but he needed a real job as his parents used to tell him over and over and urged him on so he could move out and start his life. After a year of art classes and noticing he wasn't as talented as his classmates, he switched to something more practical. Even if he wasn't smart for computer security, most of the resources were online and research came easy to him, plus his grades weren’t half bad. "Doesn't change the fact that money is going towards cyber security."

"Yeah, true. Well, if you're still into taking photos, I would love to see them. I don’t know much about art but I can appreciate something pretty.”

_Not a flat chance._ He didn't want to tell the other no but said he'll search for some stuff in his free time if he remembered. But Prompto didn't want this guy to know where he lived or anything. At least, not yet. Most of Prom photos were scenery and cats from his neighborhood. "I do take a bunch of photos in game." He offered, to just give a little bit and not seem completely unfriendly. “It’s not the same but I do edit them a bit.”

“Oh, yeah? That’s pretty cool.” Noctis said, clearly grinning in real life despite his character not making any emotions other than concentration over the paperwork. “Alright, papers filed away.” A sound of a metal draw being shut with a bit more force than needed hit Prom’s ears. “Pretty sure homework is uploaded.” Noctis huffed, and there were a few clicks and a hum. Prompto changed his sitting pose to sit straight and less casual, opening his inventory to check on his gear was fully mended. “Sweet, done. Online classes are such a bore.”

A ping played to Prompto’s ears and the bottom right notification showed Ignis logged on and a quick text of a hey from Nyx in a guild chat that he didn’t notice before. Ignis typed back a hello but nothing more, probably knowing his guildmate was raiding. Then Ignis was added into the party.

“Oh, hello, Prompto.” Ignis said as he walked down the stairs to see the two young men. Prompto waved with a friendly grin. “I see Noctis is actually doing work.”

“Yeah, kept him some company.” Prom chuckled.

“I’m done.” Noctis said, the papers faded away as he changed his pose to close his arms and lean back into the chair. “Gladio coming on soon?”

“Taking a shower, which you would know if you ever check the group chat.” Ignis teased with slight scolding but a soft smile on his face, nonetheless.

“What and see you guys flirt all day?”

Ignis scoffed smiling face turned into a frown, “We do not flirt.”

“Looks like flirting.” Noctis teased with a grin.

Ignis looked at Prompto with a roll of his eyes, “Noctis wouldn’t know what flirting was if it hit him with a behemoth.”

“Hey! I had a girlfriend! I know how to flirt.”

“ _Had,_ being the keyword here, plus it has been years since your last date.” He pressed his glasses up with a smug grin and crossed his arms over his dress shirt.

“Oh wow, you really wanna go there?” Noctis stood up.

And just like that Prompto was more uncomfortable than he could imagine, social interactions like this always made him wonder if he should say something or just stay quiet. He chose the latter.

Another ping indicating Gladiolus logged on. Another hey from Nyx in raid and Gladio responding with a hey fucker back. Gladio was added to the party as he walked down the stairs, standing next to Ignis. 

“Are we ready to fight some daemons?” Gladio grinned, ignoring the slight tension from the two guys

〜(￣▽￣〜)(〜￣▽￣)〜

They went to the Chocobo post, Prompto fighting the urge to go say hello to his feathery friends and gush over them like he normally does every time he visits the area. He explained to the team before that if Daemonwall was a rank 9 hunt, they should try a rank below just to see how things fair. They agreed without any input, which through off Prompto since the last few groups he had joined never took his advice and then realized at the Chocobo post that he was the most experienced of the group and probably the group leader, which he did not want at all. It was easier for him to just take orders and follow someone’s lead. And, besides, being a group leader was too much effort.

He grabbed the hunt, clicking yes to repeat the hunt as he had already done so in the past and was also notified someone in the group had not done it before and extra rewards would be added if they killed the beast. 

“So, uh, which one you haven’t killed the Behemoth Tyrant?” Prompto asked, looking at the group and all three raised their hands. “Uh! Okay, no problem. I have….” He looked at Noctis and Galdio’s weapons, “It’s best to use shield and greatsword if either of you have them.” 

Gladio already had a greatsword equipped which only meant for Noctis to switch, Prompto did not want to tell the other how to play and it was doable with the sword the other had on already but a boost would help the fight along. Noctis shrugged, switching to a shield and Prompto switched out his own weapons to a better gun than the sniper rifle he was using the night before for test runs. 

“You don’t want to snipe?” Noctis asked, watching Prompto change out. 

“I don’t have materia on that gun that would help.” Prompto shrugged, “Sniping is fun but it’s a massive beast so it’s not that much of a challenge anyways. And this is mostly to see if my group style of fighting will help.”

“You’re not normally a sniper?” Ignis added.

“In solo stuff I am.” _Which is most of the time._ “This gun has better stats, which I normally use when there is an active role as tank to hold the boss’ attention. And if things go south, I’ll switch out to another gun, but the shotgun should be good to use even though I have to be closer. I have potions so don’t worry about me.” Even with Luna’s help, Prompto had over 200 potions that he hoards.

“Iggy and I can heal, don’t worry too much.” 

Prompto bit his tongue, he didn’t want to tell them that healing magic takes a few seconds longer than just using a potion and if Lunafreya was making potions, why not just use them? He wasn’t worried about this fight at all, he has cleared it a few times for the materials and did it solo twice but he knew the fight in and out. And, over all, the four of them cover most of the bases in different fighting styles. “Okay, yeah. We should just take the Chocobos over unless you guys wanna run there.”

Prompto took out his breed special white Chocobo, petting the white feathers as the bird coo’d at him and headbutted his master fondly. Noctis came over with his rented one and stared at the white bird with wide eyes. “Oh, this is Cheesecake. She’s my racing bird.” Prompto said proudly, petting her once more before getting on her.

“She’s so cool.” Noctis said, petting the white Chocobo that coo’d at him and then got onto his own bird. “Breeding takes so long in this game, I couldn’t get into it.”

“Yeah. It was, like, the first thing I did when I got the game and it took me about a month.” Prom confessed with a found smile at the Chocobo. “Racing was pretty fun when everyone was doing it but now it’s just bots. So, I just take her out for rides.”

The group raced to the behemoth location, the sky started to change an orange hue as the sunset and by the time they got to the location, it was dark. Not a problem, there weren't any other monsters to deal with during this hunt nor along the path to it. Dismounting the birds, Prompto petted his Chocobo one last time before turning to the group, Noctis staring at him with an assumed smirk that made the blond blush. 

“Alright, let’s show this guy what we are made of!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry more setup stuff, but next time is when the fun really starts ~~and cringe~~.
> 
> Fun fact: the guild house is based off my fc house and i literally forgot how it looks and didn't wanna to log in to see


	3. Happy Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teamwork makes the Behemoth Tyrant Cry.

There was no real game plan, just hit hard and fast at the beast head to knock out it’s horns and watch out for the tail when attacking from behind. 

The Behemoth Tyrant was ready for them the moment they entered the area, roaring and charging to the group, Prompto moved to the side, shooting off right away as the others scrambled. It was a messy beginning, the beast kept changing from attacking Noctis and Gladiolus a few times before Noctis was able to grab the attention after a few heavy attacks. It went to slash at Noctis with a growl as he tried to bring his shield up to block the attack but unfortunately it landed and caused him to fall backwards and the behemoth changed it’s target to Gladio. While reloading, Prompto moved towards the back end of the beast and away from Gladio as he knew another swipe was going to land on the bigger man but he parried the attack and Noctis was back on his feet and landed a shield bash to the side of the tyrant’s head and once again catching the attention of the beast.

They did pretty decent overall, Noctis was acting as a tank after the mess up with his shield and provoked the behemoth every time the aggro bar reset so the beast would not attack Ignis and Prompto due to their health being lower and made sure the cleave attacks didn’t hit anyone and use his shield on time to block it. He was quick to realise what attacks shouldn’t hit anyone else since it did take a good chunk of HP from everyone but Noctis and Gladio who had the most HP and heavier armor to handle hard hitting attacks. Prompto staying close to melee rang with his shotgun using lightning damage over time from the help of the materia that was in place, and he barely got out of the behemoth’s charge attacks in time, almost forgetting how it felt like being so close in a fight after months of playing on his own, but took no damage. The others weren’t as lucky, which Prompto scolded himself for not calling out the attacks he knew that were coming out. But after they got hit three times from the same attack, they caught on. Noctis health dropped a few times but Ignis healed him through most of it at the cost of the damage output to be lower than necessary. Prompto only wished they utilized using potions more. Magic based healing was great but none of them were actual mages and would need to use an ether potion to regan whatever MP they had lost, meaning less DPS was being put out. But that was the play style they wanted to do and he didn’t want to come off as an asshole telling them how to play. Which, using spells wasn’t a huge problem, yet, the fight took a tad longer than Prompto was used to in this fight with three other people but when the beast went down, Prompto cheered with a jump like always defeating a serious fight and Noctis came over and gave him a high five. 

“We did it!” Prompto cheered, sticking his tongue out at the rank 8 behemoth that faded out and loot was on the ground. 

A timer showed up in five minutes the behemoth would spawn again. The team grabbed the materials that dropped and exited the area, Prompto still on a battle high and talking fast to everyone how great they did. The others weren’t talking but they smiled as they got back to the Chocobos.

“Hey, Cheesecake, missed me?” He asked his bird, hugged the neck as the Chocobo ruffled her feathers and hugged him back. Prompto looked back at the team. “Okay, we did awesomely! I should have called out some attacks, which I can do next time for whatever fights we do if that would help? I can even suggest better ways to optimize your abilities better but I’m a little rusty with different weapons and would need a bit more time to study that...” He was still smiling but the words lost its luster a bit at being unsure at the end.

“You’re the expert in these fights.” Gladiolus chuckled, mounting the bird. “I’m not gonna say no, at least I don’t have to think and just smash some skulls in.”

“I agree. I’ll look up some tactics for the next fight when we do; to help with the timing and flow of things.” Ignis added, “But I must go for now, I need to do some stuff.” He looked at Gladio with a pointed look and the bigger man rolled his eyes. 

“Yeah, I gotta go too. See you kids later. Don’t hang around here too long or daemons might get at ya.”

The two left the party and teleported away and within a few minutes logged out.

Prompto frowned, mounting his bird and looked over to the last member of the part with a puzzled look. Noctis shrugged. “I’m pretty sure they’re dating. They’re always hanging out outside the game.”

“Do you all know each other outside of here?” Prompto asked, watching Noctis mount his own bird and then move close to him. “Ignis mentioned the other night about picking you up.”

“Yeah, we’ve known each other since I was little. His family works with my dad. During business stuff they would just send us to play outside or watch movies, so kinda forced to become his friend. Ignis is a good guy, though. He’s kind of like my brother but acts like my mom.” He chuckled, petting his Chocobo. “Gladio works at the gym that I go to, they don’t have much in common but that’s why I think they’re dating. Unless Ignis is trying to get buff.” Noctis started to move slowly back to the post and speed up as Prompto followed him. “We’ve gone to Pride together one year and just kept hanging out after that.”

“Pride?” Prompto asked, feeling dumb the moment he said it.

“Uh…” Noctis looked over to him. “Well, the guild is mostly LGBT.” He chuckled, looking away. “Hope that doesn’t bother you.”

“No!” Prompto gasped, not wanting to give off the wrong impression. “I’m bi so… It totally doesn’t bother me at all.”

“Oh?” He looked over at Prompto with a sly smile. “Is that why your character looks like a twink?”

“H-hey!” He blushed in real life but he was caught red handed. Prompto tried to make his avatar look like the way he wished in real life. He was working on losing weight, even lost a bunch of running every day but he had some pounds to shed and muscle to be at his goal. But he was almost there and barely anyone called him chubby anymore. Mostly got ignored, but that was better than being called names. “Like you’re one to talk.” He muttered but saw the smile grew wide on Noctis face as he laughed. _Man, I can listen to laugh all day._

“I actually look like this, so thanks.”

The two avoided some daemons as they rode back to the post, Prompto really wanted to fight some but didn’t want to show off. He stared at Noctis, wondering how much effort the guy put into making his character actually looking like his in game version. It was easy to make your character look like a model in this game or a crazy looking guy if that was more your style, but if Noctis was being truthful about looking the way he did, Noctis must be pretty hot. _Uh, brain please stop._ Prompto didn’t want to be one of those guys that would look at his friends with desperate eyes and think they could date. _We aren’t even friends._

“You gonna log off soon?” Noctis asked, pulling Prompto from his thoughts and made the blond realize he was staring at him for a bit too long as their eyes met. “Wanna come to the Gold Saucer with me? I read that they added some new mini games to this patch and haven’t tried it out yet.”

Prompto shrugged, “Sure.”

“I’ll pay for the teleport.” 

Noctis burst into light blue particles and the prompt to accept the free teleport to the Gold Saucer was given to him. Accepting, in a blink he was at the main entrance of the light golden amusement park. 

〜(￣▽￣〜)(〜￣▽￣)〜

Prompto hadn’t been in this area in a long time, sure when it first came out it was great. So many people came over to check out the new things and spent hours playing the games, Prompto was one of them, but after a while less people showed up and it ended up being more of a dating area. Of course people with friends would show up and some people would come over by themselves but slowly it became a couple hang out and that left a sour taste in Prompto’s mouth. But hanging out with someone made those thoughts go away.

Noctis grabbed Prompto’s hand, yet again like at the guild house, and he led the blond to the ticket booth. Buying enough tickets for rides for the both of them to last for hours even though Prompto told him that he could buy his own with a slight pout in his voice but Noctis waved him off. “Just buy them next time we come here.” 

They did some platform games, which Noctis won every single one with total ease that made Prompto jealous but the dark haired man cheered him on and once the blond reached the top, Noctis gave him a high five and a shoulder hug every time Prompto reached the top after him. “I did a solo dungeon that took me about 6 hours that was pure platforming. It was hell but got a cool accessory out of it.” He explained with a shrug like it was nothing but Prompto was thoroughly impressed, he had heard about the dungeon and read up about it but platforms weren't his thing at all. He did watch a video online and at that moment he knew he would never do it. 

Noctis took him to another game that was about to start, they picked a spot and Noctis sat on the ground and Prompto sat next to him. This game was a short one and purely based out of luck. Prompto won this one a few years back when it first came out but he had no one to express how happy he was. Prompto looked around at the people spread out, a bunch of couples stood next to each other while giggling and he had to roll his eyes at the people clearly on a date.

“Oh, you wanna join the group chat on Discord?” Noctis asked, while they waited, catching Prompto’s attention.

“I don’t have one of those.” 

“What? I never met anyone that doesn’t have one.” Noctis blinked, “Go make one, we usually contact each other that way for stuff like events or if we can’t get in game, it’s so much easier.”

Prompto really didn’t want to make one but Noctis had a solid point it would make it easier, taking off the headset, he looked at his phone to make the account and told Noctis his username and number and was sent an invite from EdgeLordXXX with made him laugh out loud.

“It was a joke!” Noctis groaned, but chuckling with him.

“But it fits you so well!” He teased with a laugh.

Being added to the group, he changed his name to just his first name and was greeted by a bunch of people. Looking to the side he counted twelve people in the group and Nyx was in voice chat called RAID with three other people. Prompto put his headset back on right on time to see the blast just miss them. They sat in the same spot for each blow, almost making it to the end but got blasted off right at the end. 

“Aw man, so close!” Prompto pouted, looking at the other who shrugged with a half smile. 

“I never won this thing anyways, but that was fun. Wanna try the new stuff?”

“Sure, what’s the new thing?” Noctis led them to the farthest part of the amusement park, an area that Prompto never seen before and once they went through a door and Prompto stopped walking causing Noctis to be pulled back. “Oh no, I’m not really into…”

“What? It’s just a game.” Noctis chuckled.

“Y-yeah but it’s a haunted house!” Prompto knew nothing would actually hurt him but horror based games was one of the things he did not play at all. He would watch videos of other gamers playing them but never had the courage to play it on his own. “I dunno…” He had to log off soon for his nightly run and did not want to run thinking about being chased by ghosts.

“Well… We don’t have to.” Noctis frowned, clearly disappointed from the sound of his voice.

He also didn’t want to disappoint his new friend either.

“Fine,” Noctis perked up with a smile, but Prompto had a stern look on his face. “But I want _you_ ,” He pointed at Noctis with a slight glare, “To know that I have to go jogging after this and if I get scared, I’m fighting you.”

“Deal.”

They went up, handing the tickets to the NPC that was dressed like a sheet kids Ghost. Prompto was already shaking in his seat and freaking out internally. Noctis was probably not even phased by what was going on. Noctis took his hand, once again, telling the blond he’ll just lead the way so he wouldn’t have to worry or get lost. That was fine with him.

The first room looked like a decrepit foyer, stairs that go up to the next floor were right before them as they entered and a living room to the left with a static old TV playing just black and white noise. The door slammed shut behind them caused Prompto to yelp and bump into Noctis.

“Wanna go upstairs first?” 

“UH! NOT REALLY!” Prompto peaked over his shoulder, seeing the TV flicker a human shape in the reflection. “ACTUALLY! Yeah! Upstairs!” 

Noctis chuckled, taking the steps one at a time with Prompto close behind. Prom staring down as they moved up the dark, silent house with only the TV static as background noise and the creaking of their steps were slightly off. 

“It’s just a game.” Prompto muttered under his breath, as they reached the top and still heard the creaks of the stairs before a pause. His heart felt like it paused as he looked behind him seeing a black shadow and screamed again, rushing forward but only to dump right into Noctis again. “I don’t want to do this anymore!” He shouted with his eyes shut tight.

“Hey,” Noctis let go of his hand and placed it on his shoulders, “Look at me.” Prompto groaned in pain, not opening his eyes. “Prom, look at me.” He opened his eyes, staring into Noctis’ blue eyes. “We can leave right now.”

“N-no, I can do this.” Prompto said, really not wanting to mess this up but knowing full well he already did. “It’s just a game, like you said.” Noctis frowned. “Seriously. Just ignore me.”

“I don’t want to make you do something you’re not comfortable with...”

“You’re not. I could just disconnect. You really want to do this and I want to do this with you.”

Noctis eyes narrow in thought but said okay as he grabbed his hand again and led him to the master bedroom. The wallpaper was ripped and left chunks of the paper on the ground and covered in what Prompto imagined was blood. The creeks were back but Prompto bit his tongue to react. Glancing to the door, there was another black mass but it was gone in a blink of an eye. The more they explored the house, the worse it got. Children playing and giggling can be heard once they explore a nursery. The bathroom was soaking in blood and the sink went on by itself with blood pooling. Every time they walked, there were footsteps behind them but Prompto just closed his eyes and hummed half the time they were in there to ease the time. But he never disconnected, he didn’t want Noctis to be alone in the house or feel horrible for having taken Prompto in there to begin with. Sure, he missed most of the jump scares but Noctis was laughing at each of them and made Prompto feel a little better that his friend was having fun… Even though it was dark and twisted.

Once they exited, he sighed with huge relief and jumped once more when the back door slammed shut and a blood curdling scream of a woman echoed out of the haunt home. 

“How the fuck is this a date area?” Prompto asked looking at Noctis, breathing hard like he just ran a few miles already to calm his anxiety with his hands on his knees to help center himself.

Noctis shrugged, “Guess some people like being scared?”

“You didn’t scream once!” Prompto pointed out with a small shout.

“I play a lot of horror based games.” He said with a matter of fact tone of voice. “This stuff doesn’t bother me.”

That annoyed Prompto but mostly out of envy how cool and collected the other was during the house. “I… I’m gonna go for my run!”

Noctis chuckled, “Tell me how it goes.”

Prompto pouted and stuck his tongue out, before disconnecting from the game he saw Noctis wave him goodbye.

〜(￣▽￣〜)(〜￣▽￣)〜

Standing in real life, he stretched out his aching muscles and noticed it was past ten pm. He normally wouldn’t go out for a run this late but he had to and with all this anxiety from the dumb haunted house, he had to work out the energy somehow. Changing to his workout clothing, he took a look in the mirror and took a photo put in his progress book. Taking the photo, he looked at older photos of him. He _was_ making progress, not as fast as he would like but realistically, he knew this was normal. He could nitpick at each part of his body but it was already late and he needed to get going. Making sure his phone was in his pocket, he took a deep breath and went for his job.

He only ran for an hour, it was too late to run for his normal three hour jog and the wind brustling the trees were getting to him. 

After his shower, he laid in bed looking at his phone and tried to type something to Noctis but everything came out lame or like he actually wanted to fight and after the fourth time of erasing his message he groaned and stopped to stare at the blank page.

**Noctis:** so how was the run?

Prompto perked up, bringing his phone closer to his face and half dying that Noctis didn’t see that he was trying to message him. Which he probably did and Prompto felt like dying right there from embarrassment.

**Prompto:** horrible…..

**Noctis:** lol sorry next time i wont make you do anything scary

Prompto bit his lip.

**Prompto:** well it did help me run faster cause i was scared… T 3 T

**Noctis:** next time just call me and ill talk you thro it bby

**Prompto:** HEY IM NOT A BABY I CAN RUN ON MY OWN!!!!

**Noctis:** i dunno….

Prompto chuckled, curling a bit into himself with a stupid grin on his face.

**Prompto:** wow im a grown ass man i have you know i can cook my own meals

**Noctis:** oooo v impressive i like a man that can cook

Prompto froze. “Wait a minute. What!?” He reread the words, no way Noctis meant it like that. It’s just his brain messing with him cause Noctis said he was gay. Well, he didn’t _say_ he was gay but super implied it that the guild was mostly LGBT so of course his brain just filled in the rest. No way Noctis is actually hitting on him. This is just friendly banter, yeah. 

**Noctis:** i cant cook for shit lol

**Prompto:** WELL im not a good cook just okay D’:

**Noctis:** I literally burn water

**Prompto:** oof nvm you win

**Noctis:** lol

 **Noctis:** do you have class tomorrow?

**Prompto:** nah i do have hw >___<;;;

**Noctis:** you wanna vc tomorrow and do hw together? I gotta finish writing an essay…

**Prompto:** sure ill be around noonish uwu

**Noctis:** i dont wake up til like 1pm and i dont leave my bed til like 2pm bro

**Prompto:** @o@;;;;

 **Prompto:** WHAT

**Noctis:** I LIKE SLEEPING OK

**Prompto:** my dude youre in a coma if you sleep that long 

**Noctis:** god i wish

 **Noctis:** but

 **Noctis:** i dont sleep til like 4 or 5am lol

**Prompto:** WHAT WHY!!!!

**Noctis:** brain doesnt really shut down til then so i just roam the internet

**Prompto:** that cant be healthy

**Noctis:** probs you see some weird shit late at night

 **Noctis:** my brain cant stop looking tho

**Prompto:** i bet you seem like the weirdo that looks up creepy stuff

**Noctis:** :T

 **Noctis:** how dare you call me out like this in my own house

**Prompto:** AM I WRONG!?

**Noctis:** …

 **Noctis:** no >:I

**Prompto:** oh no the angry eyes

 **Prompto:** pls dont hate me :c

Prompto giggled, bringing the blanket over his head as if trying to block out the embarrassment coursing through his body.

**Noctis:** i dont think i CAN hate you

 **Noctis:** even tho you are evil

 **Noctis:** you might have everyone fooled

**Prompto:** wahhh

**Noctis:** with your blond hair and blue eyes

 **Noctis:** BUT I SEE YOU

 **Noctis:** youre pure evil

Prompto bit back a barking laugh, not wanting to wake up anyone with his stupid chat.

**Prompto:** you caught me but no one would believe you

**Noctis:** ah shit you right

Prompto smiled, pushing the blanket off his face and let out a huff. Maybe Noctis was his friend now. He never talked to anyone like this before nor for this long and laughed as much as he has been in the last two days. 

**Noctis:** imma let you sleep but im def gonna send you memes

**Prompto:** my dude i LOVE memes @ O @!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I boosted the rating from M to E cause I wrote a bunch of spicy stuff for the future once Prompto gets his head out of his ass, unfortunately it is also a slow burn and it's killing me. But don't worry, we will get there.


	4. 100+ Notifications

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompto awakes to memes and Noctis eats fruit loops.

Prompto woke feeling oddly good about the day, which was very strange since he was always dreading the mornings and felt like he never got enough sleep. He wasn't as groggy as he normally wakes up each other and only took him a few minutes to get out of bed compared to the normal hour of just laying there when he didn't have to go out to do anything. He went about his business in the bathroom before getting dressed to go for his morning jog that he was looking forward to doing, grabbing his phone to place in his pocket, he noticed the notification blue light on and checked his phone. 

All messages from Noctis sending him videos and photos of random funny things he found and many, oh so many, cat videos. He glanced at most of them while walking out the door for his jog with a smile on his face.

Three hours later, Prompto comes back home to take his shower and makes two eggs for himself with water before laying on his bed to look at all the post that Noctis has sent him. Noctis wouldn’t be awake for another hour and he wasn’t sure if he should just start his work now or wait for him. Surely, Noctis wasn’t going to wake up and start doing his essay. He sent a quick message to Noctis how he loved the stuff he showed him, tried wording it differently about four times before settling with LOL YES. He pressed send before he could chicken out and laid his phone on his chest to not think about the lame message he just sent.

Thirty minutes later his phone buzzed.

**Noctis:** glad u enjoyed them

**Prompto:** uwu slept well?

**Noctis:** i think i died for a bit

Prompto chuckled, his face breaking out into a huge smile and feeling his face already hurting.

**Prompto:** i take that as a good thing?

**Noctis:** OTL

 **Noctis:** yus

 **Noctis:** you think i can make iggy come over and make me pancakes?

**Prompto:** lol maybe?

A moment later Prompto saw in the group chat Noctis asking for pancakes with Ignis sending a simple no as an answer. 

**Noctis:** well fuck me then

He wrote in their private chat.

**Noctis:** guess ill starve

Prompto laughed, turning to lay on his side while facing the wall.

**Prompto:** LOL can you make cereal? 

**Noctis:** maybe?

 **Noctis:** theres no fire for that

 **Noctis:** right?

**Prompto:** noctis pls

**Noctis:** i got some fruit loops 

**Prompto:** fun and yummy

**Noctis:** and v gay

 **Noctis:** how did no one know kids eating rainbow food wouldnt make them gay

**Prompto:** is that what did it for you? fruit loops?

_Wait, didn’t Ignis say that Noctis had a girlfriend in the past?_

**Noctis:** nah im bi but how ironic would that be if i was

**Prompto:** …

 **Prompto:** do you live off fruit loops

**Noctis:** ….

 **Noctis:** no

**Prompto:** NOCTIS!!!!

**Noctis:** I ALSO EAT COCOA PUFFS

**Prompto:** NOCTIS PLS

**Noctis:** imma order a pizza

**Prompto:** FOR BREAKFAST!?

**Noctis:** i like to live a life of danger

**Prompto:** imma fight you

**Noctis:** LOL

 **Noctis:** did you eat yet?

 **Noctis:** wanna meet up for breakfast/lunch?

Prompto stared at the words. Nope. Too fast. No way in _hell_ was he going to let Noctis see him. He looked in the mirror with his still wet hair all flat and covering most of his face. Maybe if he wore a hoodie to hide most of his body and then just combust into flames, Noctis wouldn’t notice how gross he was. _What am I thinking, what if Noctis was actually a liar and a serial killer?_

**Prompto:** I woke up like… 4 hours ago dude and i already just ate

 **Prompto:** Plus idk where you live

**Noctis:** ah true

 **Noctis:** and 

**Noctis:** ew

 **Noctis:** gross

Prompto frowned but tried to not take it personally and failed to do just that. Was it weird that he wakes up early?

**Prompto:** dont you have an essay to write?

Changing the subject was a good call.

**Noctis:** i dont even have pants on right now how can i write an essay

_AHHHH! Let’s not think about him half naked, please!_

**Prompto:** well imma start doing my hw then

**Noctis:** NAFJKNALFN

A call came from Noctis, Prompto stared at his phone and grabbed his bluetooth headphones and pressed to pick up the call. They did plan to voice chat today while doing homework today, maybe Noctis was going to actually take this seriously.

“Hey,” A very sleepy Noctis voice came through his earbuds.

And Prompto let out a chuckle. “How are you still tired?”

“ _Hng_ , I think,” Noctis was clearly stretching with a groan and then a sigh of relief. “I went to bed a bit later than normal.” 

“How late is late for you?” Prompto opened his laptop, half wishing Noctis would stop making so many sounds even though they were pretty innocent, and sat down at his desk and placed his phone next to the computer. 

“Hmm, like 8am?” Noctis chuckled. “I saw the sun come up and was like _I fucked up._ ”

“Doing what?” Prom paused, hands hovering over his keyboard for a moment in shock that Noctis barely slept.

“Fishing.” Noctis yawned and Prompto heard some rustling, another groan of him stretching came through the mic. “Imma lay down a bit longer but don’t let me sleep.”

How the hell was he supposed to not let him sleep? “Catch anything good?” Prompto decided to start with.

“Uh, mostly some fish for food to be made, Luna gave me a list so I was working on that.” He yawned again and then sighed. _This boy is gonna kill me._ “Then sold most of the rest on the market board so people leveling up their fisher can just buy it off me.”

“Were you just fishing and nothing else? Seems kind of boring.” Prompto started his work, barely reading any of the material and just skimming for key words before starting the labs.

“I like fishing in real life, it’s pretty relaxing, just added some music and I'm good to go.”

“So, why don’t you do that for real?”

“I do but not often as I like, I live in a city so I don’t really get to go as often as I like. Maybe I’ll drop out of school and buy a house on the beach and just become a fisherman.” Noctis muttered before sighing,

“Sounds nice.” Prompto commented, groaning a _shit_ how he missed a step in the lab and just copied the correct steps to read and redid it with ease. 

“What’s wrong?” Noctis actually sounded concerned.

“Oh, nothing. I missed a step so I have to redo the whole thing.” Prompto shrugged, pressing submit and passed with 100%. 

“At least you can redo it. My class is a one and done kind of deal.” After a split second Noctis added with rustling again and a grunt, “Okay, cereal time.” Prompto can hear a bag opening and then the crunch of him eating.

“Are you still in your room?” He swore he didn’t hear anything that sounded like Noctis got up and walked somewhere. The other didn’t answer but was still munching on his food. “Noctis?”

“Don’t judge me, dude.” 

〜(￣▽￣〜)(〜￣▽￣)〜

  
  


Noctis started his essay a few minutes later, but it didn't last very long for him to get very bored but Prompto told him if he finished like he planned to, they could go into a dungeon or do some hunts. “or we can even go fishing since you like it so much.” That motivated Noctis right up and he stopped complaining to continue his work. It was very weird being in an active voice chat and not actually talking as the two just focused on their work and the clicking of both keyboards could be heard. Noctis would ask if a sentence would make sense and send him a paragraph to proofread even though the blond had said essays were not his strong point or editing but he did it nonetheless. And in an hour they were done. 

“Okay, so monster fighting time?” Noctis asked, submitting his work and stretching. “Imma get a snack and do my shot. It’s Saturday, right?”

_Shot?_ “Yeah, it’s Saturday.” Prompto confirmed. “You’re not getting more fruit loops, right?”

Noctis laughed. “No, I got some hot pockets. I’m a pro at using the microwave, I don't want to talk to a stranger for my pizza right now.”

Maybe Noctis had to take a shot cause the way the guy eats is pure junk food. “Should I go off call for you to take your medication? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, it’s just hormones.” Noctis paused, “Oh, right. _Uh_ , hope it doesn’t bother you.”

_Hormones? What? Like to buff out?_ “Like steroids?” Noctis laughed. “What?”

“Sorry, that’s the first time someone thought I meant steroids, that’s cute, but no. It’s hormone replacement.” Prompto didn’t say anything, still very confused. Noctis noticed the long silence on the blond's part. “I’m trans.” Noctis sounded a bit unsure of himself. And, even though Prompto didn’t know much about Noctis, the guy seemed very sure of himself all the time and was easy going the last few days.

“Oh!” The gears finally clicked, “Sorry, I just never met a trans person before.” 

“I doubt it. Some people don’t tell strangers, I don’t at least, but we’re friends so it’s fine.” Noctis paused, “Hope that’s okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be okay?”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you other than looks.”

Prompto blushed but then frowned. Noctis had no idea how he looked like in the real world and he knew that the dark haired man meant character wise but it stung. “Um, do you mind if I ask a question?”

“About me being trans?” 

“Yeah.” Prompto mumbled unsure, trying to not sound rude but Noctis sighed, clearly annoyed. “N-nothing invasive!” He panicked. “Just wanted to make sure calling you by male pronouns is okay?”

“Oh,” He seemed shocked but pleased “Hell yeah. It’s always good to ask about pronouns.” A ding went off as the timer on the microwave ended. “Fuck yeah, food is done, ready to kill stuff?”

〜(￣▽￣〜)(〜￣▽￣)〜

When Prompto logged on, he forgot he was behind the haunted house and jumped at the scream that came inside the house and teleported to the guild house to wait for Noctis to come on. He was going to go inside the house but stopped to stare at a girl wearing a very skimpy outfit that was standing in front of the door. 

She noticed Prompto’s staring at her and gave a huge grin and waved. “Well, howdy. Welcome to the guild, sorry I wasn’t online yesterday. I’m Cindy, nice to meet ya!” She placed her hands on her hips, which Prompto’s eyes followed down and glup at the sight of her pink panties peeking out and shot right up to her chest and broke out red seeing her bra. _Oh, God, she’s so cute!_ “Wah, cat got yer tongue?”

“Ah! Sorry,” He looked at her knowing smiling face as she leaned closer and his eyes shot down to her chest but then back up, as he still flushed with embarrassment. “I’m Prompto! Noctis invited me since we’re going to party up for hunts.”

“Hm,” She moved closer, her eyes roaming over him and she tapped her chin in thought. “I’m sure that’s not the only reason, but ya got some good gear.”

“Cindy, leave the poor boy alone.” Luna’s voice came from behind him, which he jumped at and looked over to see her giving a glare at the other blonde. 

“I can’t tease the newbie?”

“Sorry about her, she’s a bit of a handful.” Lunafreya said.

“Ey, I’m right here!” Cindy pouted, Prompto glanced at her once again and saw her crossing her arms over her chest. 

“We’re going to the Gold Saucer. Noctis has been talking about it for a while and I’ve been waiting for Cindy to go with.”

“Oh, Noctis took me there last night, even went to the Haunted House attraction.”

Luna’s eyes widened a bit and looked over to the other girl. Prompto was a bit confused at the interaction they had as they reacted to that. _Does Noctis not like scary stuff? He seemed pretty into it..._

“That’s surprising of Noctis.” Cindy said right when Noctis spawned in next to her and gave her a look. “Well, speak of the devil and he shall appear, how is the king of sleep?”

“What’s surprising of me, Cindy?” He narrowed his eyes at her as if knowing she was talking bad about him.

“Ah!” She put her hands before her and waved them in defense. “That yer awake is all. Don’t give me the scary look!” She ran to hide behind Lunafreya and pout. “And look at the time, we gotta go!” She teleported away and Luna followed suit with a soft smile and a wave.

Prompto looked over at an annoyed Noctis. “They’re going to the Gold Saucer.”

“Probably shouldn’t bother them then.” He sighed, shaking his head. “So, what do you wanna fight?”

“Wanna try a large scale fight?”

They went into an instance with 22 other people, Noctis as a tank role to practice but did tell Prompto he rarely actively picks shield unless needed. Prompto told him to play as whatever he wants then, but Noctis was set in shield for the group and wanted to get better with it. Prompto went with his sniper, 24 man raids like this can get messy with everyone so close and he didn’t want to deal with the others. Once in, they switched to a private voice chat since Prompto was going to be staying far away from Noctis.

Prompto got just far enough that if he took one more step back, he couldn’t hit the giant machine they were going to charge at soon. A few mages stood nearby but a few yards in front of him and Prompto took the chance they being so close wasn’t going to mess him up and he laid on the ground and lined up his rifle. Maybe they’ll remember they walked past his setup and not place an air attack on him.

“You gonna be okay by yourself?” Noctis teased as he ran along with the other tanks to start the fight. “Not going to miss me?”

“I have a few people hanging around, I shouldn’t get lonely. This one mage looks like you.” He lied to just tease Noctis back. “Are you gonna fight for aggro?”

“I am now.” Noctis said full with determination. “Eh, my gear is better than these guys, time to show them I’m the best tank ever.”

Prompto laughed, “See, this is why I always hang back. Tanks get thirsty for the boss to smack them around.”

“Well, you know what they say about tanks, right?” He said slyly, Prompto saw that Noctis used a few buffs to help him get control of the boss to attack him with ease.

“Not really…”

“That they’re bottoms.” Noctis laughed.

“I’m learning too much about you.” Prompto laughed with him.

“Whoa, hey!” Noctis exclaimed once he realised his mistake and sounded as if he was pouting, ”I also heal and do DPS. That makes me a switch, if anything!” 

“Okay, okay!” Prom laughed hard, taking note that the giant green machine was shooting rockets and they were going to land on him. He rolled on the ground to avoid them, stood up and jogged to set up in a different area, this time there was another sniper.

“You being a sniper is total bottom energy.” Noctis confirmed as if it was a fact.

“Wait! What!” His finger slipped and missed the giant boss, realigning, he attacked once again.

“It’s a passive support class, total bottom.”

“I’m not a bottom!” Prompto defended himself, flushing. Seeing Noctis lose aggro as the boss turned to the group and cleave everyone, half their team got hit with the attack and one of their healers died. Prompto loaded a potion into the gun and shot Noctis to top him off as the healer raised the other. 

“You’re gonna have to prove it.”

“I just healed you!” 

Noctis hummed in thought, stealing aggro again and moved himself so no more cleaves can hit anyone around him that tried to avoid the other tank that pulled off him. “Power bottom.”

“How dare you.” Prompto tried his best to sound angry but him stifling his chuckles did not convince either of them.

“Just embrace it.”

The machine's health was at 50% causing two more machines to drop from the air that looked like it but slightly smaller. The other tanks did not even try to take the adds, in which Noctis cursed and provoked one towards him and tackled the other one. He swung his shield to attack all three machines at once, his health dropping fast and popped some buffs to help balance the extra damage he started to take on. Prompto switched to start attacking the smaller ones with a few others but most of the raiders stayed on the big guy instead. Noctis health dropped to 1 and then full health.

Prompto gasped out loud, “Did you just-!”

“Yup!” Panic strained Noctis' voice as he actually sounded pained, “God, I _sure love_ playing yo-yo with my health bar!” He pulled the boss a bit away to avoid some attacks that were being landed on him due to the other players.

The adds died, in which both of them sighed in relief. Then shortly after the giant machine died. Prompto stayed laying on the ground, face planted on the gross. “That was scary.” He mumbled out. “Glad I was back here, that was messy.” 

They left the instance with their loot, Prompto already had both rewards from the fight but it was fun to just fight something with someone around to talk to. 

“I told the others to come on so we can try fighting Daemonwall, we did pretty well with the behemoth that it shouldn’t be much of a problem.” Noctis told him with a confident look.

Prompto looked over at Noctis and hummed in thought. “Daemonwall is a very different fight than a behemoth. It’s a very closed space in a hall away and has some adds in the fight. We’re gonna need some phoenix downs just in case.” He brought up in inventory seeing he only has one, it was rare for Prompto to even need one but mostly because he couldn’t use it on himself. But he did have revival earrings to use on himself at the cost of no other accessories he could use. “Have you seen any videos on the fight?” He looked towards Noctis.

“Nope.” He shrugged, “I figured we just go in and see how far we can go.”  
  
“Blind?!” Prompto shouted with a blink but regretted yelling out. “I mean… We _can._ I’ve experienced most of the fight. It can be done but we need to be on top of our DPS then. You wouldn’t need to play as a tank to hold aggro since the wall is facing us and there is no way to block an attack other than moving to the back of the hallway and most of the adds can be taken down by ease other than the reapers.”

“Reapers?”

“Yeahhhh… I don’t think they doom people, but I’m usually hanging in the back of these types of fights.” Prompto thought out loud, “Parry and dodging should do the trick.”

Noctis groaned and then sighed, “Sounds like a lot of dodging.”

The blond chuckled. “It’s not a tank and spank like most fights, you can die in one hit if you’re not ready and it can kill us all in one go if we’re all close to him when he attacks. And magic barely does anything to it, too. I’ve tried a few strategies on my own but my solo DPS isn’t enough.”

“I’m sure you can think of something for us to do.” Noctis smiled at him and Prompto felt like he was putting way too much faith in him.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. I'm swamped with too much work to meet the deadline and have reached writer's block cause stress, past me is an idiot... I'll try to post soon!


End file.
